Miss Great Britain stripped of title after Love Island antics as organisers say she is no "positive female role model"

It began as a family-friendly pastime, a way to cheer up a nation reeling from six years of bloody war with some harmless seaside fun. At the first Miss Great Britain pageant in 1945, the men enjoyed watching pretty girls parade up and down the Morecambe seafront in their tasteful hourglass swimsuits, the women had fun backing their favourites, and the young girls aspired to be a “Bathing Beauty Queen”, with the lure of cash prizes - the winner received seven guineas - and potential fame and fortune. They were expected to be “good girls” - upstanding, morally-sound members of society who just happened to wear a frilly knicker better than the rest.

Today, winners of beauty pageants such as Miss Great Britain are more likely to be seen splashed across the tabloids on the arm of a Premier League footballer or on our screens in a reality TV show, than they are presenting a children’s programme like Blue Peter, as one former winner, Leila Williams, did in 1957.

Caroline Flack talks Love Island and radio

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When this year’s winner Zara Holland - from Hull - was stripped of her title this week, she was berated by organisers for not upholding the moral responsibility which comes with the role. Miss Holland - who is currently a contestant on ITV2s reality TV show Love Island - was unceremoniously dethroned after sleeping with the ex boyfriend of another reality TV star while appearing on the programme.

And she’s not the first winner to be decrowned for such an offence - in 2006, former Celebrity Big Brother contestant Danielle Lloyd was relieved of her title after it emerged she had been having a relationship with West Ham striker Teddy Sheringham while he was a judge in the competition.

Feel even more sorry for Zara now she's been de-crowned. She's a very sweet girl . What even is 'miss GB' ? Are we living in the dark ages ?

"We wholly understand that everyone makes mistakes, but Zara, as an ambassador for Miss Great Britain, simply did not uphold the responsibility expected of the title."

It used to be that the worst crime a beauty pageant winner could commit was to have a child out of wedlock, as former Miss World winner Helen Morgan, from Barry, Wales, found out in 1974 when she was forced to resign after news that she was an unwed mother of an 18-month-old son emerged. But many now feel these competitions have changed drastically from the simple beauty pageants of old.

Thanks to everyone supporting Zara @Official_MissGB make their own minds up but I personally (not Zara) think it's a big mistake #loveisland

Della Draper, who won Miss United Kingdom in 1982, said that the girls who now enter these competitions have vastly different motives. Ms Draper, a 54-year-old mother-of-two from Cleethorpes, said: “It has changed a lot, the competitions are so different now - it’s the exposure that people get, and the whole celebrity lifestyle. People see it as a way to get that exposure.

“It’s a way of making a business and people are just very aware of how they can use it.

“When I did it, it wasn’t a career. It just happened and I never really gave any thought to what could happen afterwards. The modelling world wasn’t for me so I ended up buying my own business with the prize money and ran it for 25 years."

On Thursday night's show, Miss Holland - who is appearing in Love Island alongside fellow Miss Great Britain winner Sophie Gradon (who in true reality TV style has yet to reveal to Miss Holland that she, too, has held the coveted title) - said she regretted the decision to have sex while starring in the programme. She told the cameras: "You know when you're in the moment and it just happens. That's really not like me at all. Why couldn't we have just gone to sleep?"

Miss Holland will be replaced by runner-up Deone Robertson, who had been crowned Miss North Lanarkshire, and will now compete in the Miss World competition in Holland's place.